Aloha Christmas: Part 3

Our final stop, and my personal favorite island, was Lahue, Kauai. On Sunday we enjoyed an enormous feast for Sunday brunch at a super fancy hotel. The food was fantastic. We all felt we needed to be rolled out of there.

After brunch the weather cleared up so we stopped at a scenic overview to catch a picture with the beautiful blue sky.


We headed to a lighthouse with yet another fantastic view.


We then stopped to see a waterfall....lovely...


Another highlight was spouting horn. Check this out!

We traveled to a Waimea Canyon to see the famous view. Unfortunately it was pretty foggy that day. But we did manage to catch a few glimpses through the fog.


Zach teetering on the edge...careful hon!

Dad, Mom and Daniel held down the fort in the car.


We decided it would be fun to go whale watching. So we headed out onto our sturdy vessel for a three hour tour...The mighty ship tossed and turned and I felt sick and sicker. Thankfully I never actually got sick, no thanks to the 7 people ralphing right next to me. We did see some whales which was awesome, but I spent the majority of the journey with my eye on the port.

Daniel was enthralled.

There was a beautiful sunset; unfortunately I didn't see it due to the sea sickness. Thanks for taking the picture Zach.

We spent the mornings by the pool.

Daniel liked playing catch with his football.


Justin and Zach played a lot of catch. And we all had some pretty crazy games of keep away going. Mom has an awesome fake-out throw.

It was the sweetest thing. I turned to look at Zach and there he was holding sleeping Daniel under the towel. (My sincerest apologies for the speedo spotting in the background.)

Another delicious meal, another incredible view.

A huge highlight of the vacation was going on a helicopter ride to see the island.

Everything looked so beautiful from up above.



I am a huge Jurassic Park fan (at least I used to be when I was 13). It was so cool to see the waterfall that's in the beginning scene of the movie!





Waimea Canyon.

Dad pointing out our hotel to Zach.

Below are pictures of Na Pali Coast. You can only get to see the coast by boat or plane (or if you are an extreme hiker). So we were very privileged to see it with our own eyes. What beauty...




I just love the different trees that grow in other states and countries. Hawaii certainly had some pretty cool trees...

Look how tall that is?! To get some perspective, take a look at how small Zach and Mom are in front of it.

Slanty

These ones remind me of fireworks.

Unfortunately, that's as high as I climbed- that thing was covered in ants.

This one looks like it's about to crawl away!

One of our last nights we stopped for some shaved ice. Yummy!

Thank you so much Mom and Dad for this wonderful Christmas vacation. We had so much fun spending time laughing, sightseeing, playing games, and just hanging out with you guys. We love you!

Aloha Christmas: Part 2

After a few days in Honolulu, Oahu, we traveled to Kona, Hawaii (the big island). We arrived and had just enough time to drive to our condo, get groceries, change, and head back to the airport to pick up Justin and Zach, who were flying in together. Mari and I got dressed up to give them a proper Hawaiian greeting. We received many strange looks from travelers at the airport, but we didn't care.

Reunited!

Right away I was surprised at the contrast in nature on the big island. A lot of parts are still completely covered in black lava with no vegetation at all.
And other places are lush and beautiful.

One afternoon we drove to a beautiful hotel where we got to see dolphins in training. We enjoyed eating pupus (appetizers) while watching them swim and practice their tricks.

We went for a boat ride around the hotel which was a lot of fun. And I am pretty sure this is the same hotel where a "Saved by the Bell" episode was filmed (the one where Jessie's dad gets married).


While shopping one afternoon we decided to stop for smoothies. We found a sweet little place with a beautiful view. While gazing out appreciating the view, we spotted dolphins!

After dinner one night I decided to order a piece of mud slide pie for dessert. My jaw dropped when I saw the size of this thing...Oh yeah! Between the seven of us, we managed to take care of this bad boy. Dad was pretty excited.

Watch out- sneak hug attack!

We drove to Mt Kilauea (an active volcano) and spent the day sight seeing. We toured a museum, and drove to different parts of the volcano. Below is a picture of Mom, Mari and me in front of a the crater on Mount Kilauea (you can see the gas rising from it).

We walked around and saw the many steam vents- too cool!

Here we are inside a lava tube.

Another picture of Mount Kilauea.

One rainy afternoon we decided to go to a coffee plantation and we ended up at Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation which turned out to be a pretty famous one! They have been featured on the show "Dirty Jobs." We took an interesting tour and learned all about how coffee is made. The owner talked with Dad and Justin so Mari snuck in the back ground for a quick picture with the famous coffee plantation owner. (She's so funny!)

Another neat spot was Punalu'u Black Sand Beach.

Turtle!

We spent an afternoon visiting Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park which translates to Place of Refuge at Honaunau. It is a 420 acre religious sanctuary. Up until the 19th century, Hawaiians who broke a kapu (an ancient law) could flee to this place to avoid punishment or death for their crime. Once the offender reached the refuge, he was safe from punishment and would be absolved by a priest and freed to leave.




When we weren't out sightseeing, we spent our time relaxing by the pool and hanging out in the condo.

Zach even made a new little friend!

It wouldn't be a true Mallekoote vacation without Scrabble. Daniel was my teammate.

Zach and "D" chill'n.

On Christmas Eve, we ate at a nice restaurant with a gorgeous view of the sunset.


Christmas Day was a traveling day for us. So we enjoyed a delicious Christmas lunch at McDonald's.

This is a picture of our gate at the airport- I love Hawaiian airports!